


spiderweb

by sonlali



Series: Fics from Season Six [2]
Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Episode: s06e02 The Incident, Gen, Gratuitous Swearing, Introspection, tiny mention of drug use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:15:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22356271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonlali/pseuds/sonlali
Summary: stevie reflects on her decision to explore options outside the motel
Relationships: Stevie Budd & David Rose
Series: Fics from Season Six [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1621702
Comments: 12
Kudos: 33





	spiderweb

**Author's Note:**

> slight spoilers for S06E02 "The Incident"
> 
> this started because i was annoyed at how johnny makes important business decisions for the motel without even consulting stevie, and i wanted stevie to vent about how he disregards her opinion as a business partner. but then it turned into stevie having more important things to worry about than the motel. i'm excited for stevie's future outside of the motel, but let it be known that i'm still annoyed at johnny because guess who owns the motel—not him! it's stevie motherfucking budd! that's who!

Stevie has been in room two for the past 25 minutes, ostensibly to change the sheets, but in reality she’s been sitting on the end of the bed tracking a spider’s progress in building a truly impressive web across the doorway to the bathroom. She’s not entirely certain, but she _may_ have just quit the job she’s had since she was 16 years old. Mr. Rose would definitely let her stay on while she looked for something else. He even said he’d welcome her back if she ever wanted to return to the Rosebud, so the job is still here if she wants it. She could take it all back, pretend it never happened, and go back behind the desk where she’s comfortable. 

She’s been thinking about leaving for a while now. Ever since she started getting serious about _Cabaret_ , spending her days behind the motel desk has seemed less and less like how she wants to spend her future. She has never exactly _wanted_ to spend her life at the motel, but it wasn’t bad per se. Her job has always been easy—she can read and play Solitaire all day, she barely has to speak to anyone and can get away with being as rude as she likes when she does have to engage with guests. Stevie knows she wouldn’t be able to get away with that kind of shit anywhere else. But inertia is a powerful thing, and familiarity is comfortable. 

A fly buzzes past her ear and Stevie swats at it irritably. Who is she fucking kidding?! This place is a dump. Even with all the improvements they’ve made since Mr. Rose started working here, the motel is undeniably a dump. She scans the room and her eyes land on a large stain on the ceiling, the carpet that is peeling up from the floor, and the enormous fucking spiderweb covering nearly the entire doorway—seriously, how the fuck is that web so big? The room has only been unoccupied for an hour. What kind of mutant spider—Stevie shakes her head, looking away from the spiderweb. This place is a shithole. Perhaps a slightly shinier shithole than it was a year ago, but a shithole nonetheless.

 _Cabaret_ was an experience unlike anything Stevie has ever had. Going into rehearsals she felt excited, scared, and energized. The musical pushed her completely outside her comfort zone for the first time in years. It gave her something to look forward to, something to feel proud of, something to challenge her. She thought she would hate it—and parts of it she did—but she also felt more alive than she ever had. And now that it’s all over, Stevie can’t help but think there should be more to life than sitting behind a desk. If she could have that adrenaline rush of challenging herself, learning something new, having _fun_ once in her life, could she really stand to give it all up in favor of being _comfortable_?

Is she even comfortable here? Stevie hasn’t really stopped to consider that before. She definitely was at one point. She felt relaxed at the motel, at ease with her limited responsibilities and expectations. But then the Roses arrived and everything changed. Suddenly Stevie found herself caring just a little bit more. Then Aunt Maureen left her the motel, Mr. Rose decided they should run it together, and things haven’t felt quite as comfortable ever since.

The motel is no longer the boring, familiar place that has been the backdrop of her entire life. Now Stevie has responsibilities and has found herself actually _caring_ about the success of the motel. This motel that bears her name. She’s starting to feel slightly sick thinking about it. Or maybe it’s just the fly that is now stuck in the huge fucking web that is making her sick. 

Now that she’s really taking the time to think about it, Stevie doesn’t think she has been comfortable at the motel for quite a while. At first she kind of liked being a motel owner. She was no longer just _the girl behind the desk_. She was a business owner and her opinion in important business decisions mattered. 

That feeling didn’t last for long. 

Mr. Rose is an ideas man. He loves coming up with new ways to make the Rosebud successful. Not all of his ideas are as great as he thinks they are—there’s several boxes of coasters proudly advertising the Rosebud’s presence on “The Tweeters” stacked in the back office that Stevie can point to—but there’s no denying his ingenuity. The problem is—Mr. Rose doesn’t work well as part of a team. He gets an idea and immediately sets about instituting it, only stopping to talk to Stevie later. At first, it really annoyed Stevie. This is _her_ motel and Mr. Rose signed on as her _partner_ , not her employer. 

Stevie watches the fly’s wings twitch feebly in the web. It’s barely even trying to escape anymore, almost as if the fly has accepted its fate. Stevie digs her phone out of her pocket before she can sink even further into this particular thought spiral. 

“What?!” David’s voice rings sharply from the phone.

“Warmest regards to you too,” Stevie responds dryly. Although she’d only tell him under threat of death—or perhaps after a particularly boozy night—just hearing David’s voice can instantly calm her anxiety. 

“Mhm, yeah, sure. What do you want?” It’s difficult to be certain given David’s recent stress over wedding planning, Alexis’ upcoming departure, and his personality in general, but Stevie thinks David may be a bit on edge at the moment. 

“Who said I want something?”

“You _called_ me, like it’s the 1990s or you’re my dad or something. You obviously want something.” 

”Maybe I just wanted to talk to you.” Stevie can practically _hear_ David’s eyebrows shooting skyward. He sighs heavily, clearly hoping to move the conversation along. 

“Bad day?” Stevie prompts. David just grunts in response. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours?”

“I absolutely will _not_ be doing that,” David snaps, but then his voice softens slightly. “You can tell me about yours, though. If that’s… something… that would… be helpful for you.”

Stevie can perfectly imagine the contortions David’s face must be going through. David’s a good friend, but sometimes when he’s preoccupied with his own worries, he struggles to remember how to express concern for other people’s lives. This suits Stevie just fine because she has no interest in small talk and meaningless platitudes. His straightforward honesty is exactly why Stevie called David.

“Your dad took me to tour a motel today. He’s decided it’s the next inevitable step in building _the Rosebud empire_.”

“Ew, what?!” David sounds appalled. 

“Yeah, apparently that’s something we’re doing. He told Roland, but not me.” 

David hums thoughtfully. “Yeah, he does that. Just steamrolls over everyone else once he has his mind made up.”

“It’s like we aren’t even partners anymore.” Stevie tugs at a loose thread on her flannel, unsure if venting is making her feel more or less stressed. “He used to ask for my opinions, but now he just acts like it’s his motel, and I’m just the girl behind the desk.”

“Mhm, yep. That sounds about right.”

“But I think I realized something today. I don’t think... I care anymore.” Stevie shuts her eyes to stop this thought from escaping before she can properly vocalize it. “Ever since your dad started working at the motel, I’ve felt so stressed, and I thought it was the added pressure of actually making an effort. And it would really piss me off when he’d make some decision without even talking to me. But today I wasn’t even mad, and I think… I think it’s because I really don’t care about this fucking motel.”

David snorts out a laugh. “I’m sure that realization will come as a tremendous shock to everyone who has ever met you or visited the motel.”

Stevie barely hears him. Without conscious thought, she has stood from the bed and walked over to the spiderweb, staring intently at the delicate threads as understanding washes over her.

“I’ve been the fly! I’ve been trapped in the web and the more your dad talks about expanding the empire, the more trapped I feel because—I don’t fucking care about the fucking motel!”

To punctuate her statement, Stevie waves her hand through the web, tearing it apart and sending the spider fleeing up the wall. 

“I’m sorry… what the fuck is going on?!” David shouts. “We had a deal, and you were going to share the next time you found a joint in one of the rooms!”

“I told your dad I wanted to leave the motel and look for something else.”

“What?!” David’s voice raises in pitch. “What is happening?”

“I’m not going to live like a fly anymore,” Stevie says simply.

Stevie grabs a pad of paper from the nightstand, coaxing the spider off the wall and carrying the pad to the door. She crouches by the open door and watches as the spider crawls to freedom. 

It’s time for her to leave.

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi on tumblr [@landofsonlali](https://landofsonlali.tumblr.com/)!


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